Immortal
by TheWrightDefense
Summary: An ancient stallion cursed to roam the Earth for all of eternity returns to society just in time for an old enemy to rise again, will he be able to face the threat? Or will he just fall like before? Takes place before the episode "Just for Sidekicks." Rated T for light gore and "death". Don't like don't read. First fan fic.
1. Intro and Return to Civilization

Disclaimer: I do not own MLP: Friendship is Magic or anything from it. I only own my o.c.(s)

A/N: This is my first fan fic so constructive criticism is accepted but please no flaming, if you don't have anything nice to say please don't say it at all. I hope you will enjoy reading and remember to R&R.

**_Introduction_**

Long ago, before Equestria had come to be, the land was ruled by an all-powerful draconequus, by the name of Discord. This monster ruled over every being with an undefeatable amount pure chaos which continuously corrupted the land. The weather was out of control, he would defy the natural laws of physics, and what some considered worst of all; he would tamper with lives for his own amusement.

One destined crystal pony was no more 'lucky' than anypony else. Fore on one fateful day he found himself in Discord's presence where he received the worst torture of all, immortality; to live forever without death.

'How could that be bad thing,' though it seemed like nothing at the time, he eventually lost everypony he knew simply by out-living them. He was left to roam for all of eternity, alone.

His life became built around finding a way to break the cruse that already given him so much pain. He followed lead after lead and countless rumors, but all eventually came to a fruitless end. He didn't give up there 'though, he kept on searching, eventually hearing of a pair looking for a power that could take down the tyrant, Discord. With the hope of bringing down the dreaded monster, he also hoped that in doing so his curse would finally be broken and he could continue his life like everypony else.

He pursued the lead for months, but with so many ponies in the world, he started to think that it was hopeless. He was about to give up and let fate take its course, but just then, as fate would have it, he passed through an alleyway and saw a strange flash of light through an old boarded-up window. Just to his luck it was them, the alicorns. With excitement he went inside, where he insisted that he would help. Though he never told them why or for what reason he wanted to, they gladly accepted his offer either way, knowing that they would need all the help they could get.

They told him that they had found what they called the "Elements of Harmony" and were practicing its magic. All they needed now was a way to get close enough to Discord in order to use them.

He told them that he would guard the area so that they could confront Discord. Even though they told him it could be suicide he told them not to worry, it was his choice and reassured them that he would be fine.

What happened next is now obvious, the sisters, now rulers of the Land, defeated Discord and turned him to stone, finally ending his reign of chaos.

In the end the stallion, out of brief anguish for not being set free, told the sisters of his problem about how he could not die.

'Though he was not free from his curse, he continued to help the princesses in any way possible as their friend. However, because of the curse the stallion was withdrawn from society and not many knew of his contributions and his place in the revival of the land.

Even so, the peaceful rule of the princesses spread all over as they vanquished the rest of the evil terrorizing the country. They even freed the ancient Pegasus's homeland in the north, though it was sealed away soon after with little to no hope of return. The ponies, although through struggle, were even able to make peace with one another and brought about the name of the land they now called Equestria.

'Though it seemed peace would last forever, one night a great evil took hold of the younger sister, Princess Luna. She appeared to have grown jealous of her older sister and in her rage turned into a darker self, Nightmare Moon.

In the struggle between the two princesses, the stallion tried to help, but before he could, it is believed he had taken a strong hit from falling debris. It is believed that he was belted unconscious and was never seen again.

When the battle between the sisters had finally ended, and after Princess Celestia had reluctantly sent her sister to the moon with the Elements of Harmony, she searched and searched for the stallion, but after so long, she eventually had to come to the possibility that he must have finally moved on, either from this life or for some unknown reason.

As one of this great stallion's greatest allies, I sadly conclude this, the only account for the ancient pony, H..."

"Nooo-." Twilight sighed as the book cut off just before the name was finished. The ancient journal was exceedingly old and was fading in many places already making it hard to read in the first place, she already had to guess a lot of the words in there as it is.

She was in the Canterlot library in the Star Swirl the Bearded section looking through some pretty old and dusty books researching this stallion. She had come across a small reference to him at home so, being intrigued, she wanted to learn more about him, like for instance, who he was and what he looked like? And why the book didn't even mention it? She thought to ask the princesses but, they were both away on royal business and they explained to her earlier that week that they felt it was best if she stayed out of contact for this one and send all reports to the castle.

All she could do now is keep searching through other books and wonder.

**_Chapter 1 - Return to Civilization_**

_O.C.'s P.O.V (always read enthusiastically for o.c.)_

_~ one week later ~_

_~ Somewhere in the woods ~_

It was a warm, slightly humid day and I was spending some time resting on a high up branch on a fairly tall tree with my fore legs behind my head and one hind leg resting on the other as a slight breeze gently swayed my mane away from my face.

My name is Hematite. I am a male, crystal Pegasus, with bright glowing blue eyes, a dark gray cote and a sharp, jagged citrine colored main.

For those who do not possess deductive reasoning, I have been living alone in the forest for the past thousand years or so. As for why I'm out here, well after a "blunder" of mine, I felt that it would be best to leave my friends behind, I couldn't protect them "that time" and I need to know better before I can return to them.

Either way, after what happen all those years ago, I don't think 'she' would ever forgive me. Even if 'she' has returned.

The simple thought of all that's happened may have possibly caused my cote to go dull forever. I was depressed, beaten, scared, and lonely. Although, I would never let anypony know that because who would want everypony to be annoyed with them over something they can't fix.

The worst part about keeping myself out here all this time is that, even though I didn't like having friends, The loneliness of being out here is really getting to me I need to talk to somepony soon or else I will lose it.

Suddenly, I was thrown from my thoughts, there was a snap of a twig down below. I quickly shot up and surveyed my surroundings to look for the source of the sound. As I looked down I found two figures walking down below. Upon further investigation (i.e. squinting), one seemed to be a young olive shaded filly with a bright red mane and the other was oddly enough a zebra.

As they walked on they were talking audible enough for me to hear them mention a town not too far away from here called Ponyville. Were they really that far from civilization or had I drifted that close to town during my time here.

Deciding that I should check it out because of my overwhelming curiosity, I flew swiftly though the woods till I came across a once open field that now beheld a not too large, not too small, peaceful looking town. The homes were brightly colored with a nice old fashioned sense in appearance. As I walked through town, I noticed the overall peacefulness of the town's remnants. It was perfect for me.

It felt like the answer to my dilemma, so I found a small home on the outer side of town and purchased it.

I returned to the forest to get my possessions and proceeded to move into the first real house I had had since I was young.

When I had returned with my things, I excitedly opened the door to my new home to find out why it was so cheap, the place was left a total dump. After living in the forest for so long, this didn't really bother me I guess, but I was going to personalize it anyway, so I just shrugged it off and explored.

What I found in the house was typical, there was a small bedroom in the northeast corner and on the exact opposite side of the hallway was a lager master bedroom which continued off on the west side with a full bathroom, containing an old corroded sink and tub with a dusty, cracked toilet that was leaking water on the floor. The next room I checked out, the kitchen, was actually the better kept part of the whole house and was a pretty decent size. It had a small wood burning stove in the corner next to the sink. Next to that, white, rusty fridge stood. And in the middle of the room there was a small wooden island, which I must say, I was quite fond of for some reason or another.

Next, I proceeded to check out the living room which was pretty regular for this age (as I was told by the dealer) with a couch and a small cushioned chair. You might say that this was a pretty nice set up, but throughout the house there was trash strewn about everywhere and the color of every wall was a sickly green and the floor was wooden and rotted in some places. The whole house also smelled of old pizza and vomit. Yeah, this place was going to need fixing.

I went into my bag and pulled out a small piece of paper, a quill and some ink and started to write down a list of all the things that I needed to get and to do. I trotted over to the door, but out of the corner of my eye I found something that I had missed in my inspection, a large, chipped mirror leaning against the wall.

I rubbed the dust off and as I looked into the mirror. I got the first clear look at myself for the first time in many years. I was quite tall compared to most ponies around here, at about maybe a foot or two taller than regular, taller than or possibly as tall as Princess Luna (_last time I was taller, but who knew now_). Most ponies around this time seemed to have shrunk to about 4 feet tall, so great... I'm going to be the town giant _(Whoopi.)_ Even so, I needed to get going.

I turned away from the mirror and continued out the door. I readied my wings and took off for town.


	2. First Encounters

_Hematite's P.O.V._

I soon landed in what looked to be the center of town, which was a pretty large area with a tall, shabby town hall. Many homes and shops circled the area and broke off to many other roads and streets.

Since today was my first day here, I wanted to get acquainted with my new surroundings, and search for shops and stores that would be useful to me.

I started walking down a few streets picking up some things to make the house less of a wreck, and noting down stores for future need.

As I turned a corner past an extremely sweet smelling bakery, which read on a sign, 'Sugar Cube Corner,' an impossibly fast pink blur zoomed past me, backed up, then with a huge smile, focused onto me. I realized that this blur was a very excited looking mare that had a large puffy magenta mane and tail, a light pink cote, light blue eyes, and three party balloons for a cutie mark.

With an excited gasp, she quickly spilled out, "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, are you new? Of course you're new, I mean I've never seen you before. What is your name? Where are you from? I really like your cutie mark! What is it?!"

As she finished I thought her questions over and cheerfully replied, "Hi you can call me... 'Mat'. I just recently moved here from what everypony seems to call the Everfree Forest. My cutie mark is a symbol of my medical talent." I finished, while looking back at my cutie mark, a red line with a single heartbeat.

She then appeared to be slightly shocked, then asked, "Wo, I knew you were new to Ponyville because I know everypony in Ponyville and even a little beyond, but you actually lived in the Everfree forest? How long!?"

"Too long." _(What? I'm not going to tell somepony I just met my life story. Besides I don't really want to tell anypony about my past right now, the beginning is too dark and the ending is too grim. She also seems just the type to spread it around as well.)_

"Okie-dokie-lokie," she playfully said, "You should come over to Sugar Cube Corner some time. Oh I know come by later today. Bye!" she said with a wide smile, she then zipped away at her impossible earth pony speed, leaving behind a smell of... _Cotton Candy?_

I chuckled to myself, then continued on my way to find other new places to remember while noting down to come back here later.

* * *

As I continued on throughout the streets, I had a sudden realization, I really needed some more modern clothing. Although I don't need them often, they do come in hoovey on certain occasions, and all my current clothing at home is either for combat, old and rotted or just do not fit in with the times.

So I went in search of a clothing store for my greater-than-average size.

Asking around town, everypony kept pointing me in the direction of this really girly looking store that was labeled the 'Carousel Boutique' which was supposed to have custom fitting and reasonable prices.

Now, I didn't care for my own pride anymore as I had thrown it out of my mind years ago as pretty much useless, given my situation, but this store just screamed the essence of filly.

However, my want for custom clothing I'll barely ever wear outweighed that con.

So I sucked it up and went in.

As I walked in however I found that all my suspicions about the place were all justified by the fact that it was covered in all things more girly and as some would say, 'froo froo' as I had ever seen.

I heard faint steps coming down the stairs in the back of the shop. I soon found that it was a unicorn mare with eyes in the shade of royal blue, a pure white coat with a purple main and tail that looked expertly styled along with a cutie mark consisting of three diamonds. She trotted up to me with a pleasant smile.

"Hello and welcome to the Carousel Boutique, My name is Rarity. Is there anything I can help you with?" she stated in a voice that I could only describe as fancy.

"Hi there, I'm called 'Mat,' I heard you make some pretty nice cloths and I was just wondering how much a suit and maybe a white coat would cost?"

"Oh yes of course, I don't get many orders from stallions… especially of your size, and therefore isn't something I normally practice, so… I say…," she said looking around me, "it shouldn't cost more than about eighty bits."

Thinking it over, this was quite the deal. The last time I had bought a suit the price was at least a hundred bits and that was when the economy was just being started, so happily I pulled out some bits from my saddle bag, "there you go, will this cover it?"

"Why yes, this is perfect, all I need to do now it take some measurements and it should be done some time this week." she said as she took out some glasses and a measuring tape with magic, then wrote my measurements on a clipboard.

After she was finished, I thanked her and was about to exit out the door when I had a sudden urge to find some books to read, so I turned back and asked, "Hey before I leave, is there a book store or a library around here that you might know of?"_ (What can I say? I act on impulse)_

"Why yes I do, my friend Twilight on the other side of town runs the library, it looks like a large hollowed out tree, you can't miss it, she would be pleased to lend you some books." she called back from her shop.

Joyed by the answer, I called back, "Thank you Ms. Rarity!" and continued out the door.

I leaped from the ground and just started to fly when, **_WAM!_** Something slammed in my face and I dropped down onto the ground. I'll save you most of the details, but it would have possibly been fatal if it had not been for my curse. Thankfully the area wasn't that crowded and anypony who was there hadn't really noticed as I rotated my head and snapped it back into place. _('Wow, one day here and I would have already died')_ I laughed to myself as I got up to look for the one who rammed into me.

As I turned around, I noticed a cyan colored Pegasus mare lying face down in the mud. I trotted over to her just as she got up and got a better look at her. She had a long rainbow colored mane and tale, from what I could tell form under the mud she had magenta eyes and her cutie mark was that of a white cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt striking out. She looked kind of dazed as she readjusted to the ground and looked at me with a slightly apologetic look.

I was the first to speak, "Hi there, are you alright? You took a massive fall there."

"Yeah, this happens all the time, but what about you? I just slammed into your face." she asked with a bit of a raspy, tom-boyish sounding voice.

"I'm not too important. You just need to be little more careful. Anyhow, what happened that made you crash like that?" I asked, wondering what would have been the cause of my death.

"Oh yeah I was practicing a new trick for the Wonderbolts!" she said with pride and continued, "But I kind of lost control and crashed." she finished with a little bit of shame.

Seeing how she looked, I had to help, "Well you know what they say 'practice makes perfect.' And sorry, but... just so I'm not out of the loop, who are the Wonderbolts anyway?"

At that she gasped, "Are you kidding? The Wonderbolts are just the greatest flyers in all of Equestria! Where have you been!" she asked with a surprised look.

I snickered at her outburst, "Oh nowhere important. Well if anything, away training." I told her more seriously than I think she meant.

"Oh you train! What do you train for?" She started breaking away from the previous topic.

"You know, just keeping active, and studying for more experience in my medical field."

"No way, I've never met a doc' who I've seen to be active." She said apparently not noticing the contradiction she just stated in her words.

"What do you mean you've never seen an active doctor before?! Their talent should be in health right? They should be completely active!" It was just such an unbelievable thought that I just couldn't keep it in.

"What am I going to say, Any time I see our towns doc's and nurses they're all doing their jobs," She defended, "Does it even really matter? The only thing I know is that you're the first one I met who is active."

"Fine, fine, I can't just up and blame you for not keeping a watchful eye on this town's medical practitioners." I backed off. I still found it odd, but the matter was trivial and not very interesting.

"Anyway I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer in all of Equestria." She said in introduction. _(At least one of us was remembering their manners… weird why did that thought feel completely ironic?)_

"Nice to meet you. You can call me 'Mat'. The umm… well the quick response medic." I said awkwardly, trying to play along with her title thing she used.

"Well Mat gotta' go, but you seem cool, we should totally hang later."

"Anytime, I not doing much seeing as I'm new here and all."

We said our farewells and took off in separate directions, Rainbow to wherever and I to the Library.

* * *

A few minutes later I finally found the library. I was amazed at what they had actually used for it, as it was just as Ms. Rarity had described, 'a giant hollowed out tree.'

As I neared it to knock on the door, I heard a muffled call with a set footsteps. Then suddenly the door opened and what I saw was surprisingly, a small purple baby dragon with green spikes.

"I'll be back with the quills and ink soon." the dragon finished calling, then he turned around, but got spooked as soon as he spotted me, "Dude you just scared the hay out of me, just standing there blending into the shadows."

Looking down I chuckled at how I had, inadvertently, stepped into the library's shadow to let the small guy by. "Oh sorry about that, didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay, gotta' go." he then ran off toward town.

"See you later!" I called and walked through the doorway into the library.

I looked around until I heard somepony come up behind me, I turned around and there was a unicorn mare, whose cote was a shade of lavender, with a dark indigo mane and tail with a violet and pink streak running through each, her eyes were purple and her cutie mark was... _(A magenta six pointed magic star)_, with a couple of smaller white stares scattered out around it.

_(This couldn't be.) _I tried to reason as many happy thoughts and memories raced through my head of an old friend of mine, all because of the mare in front of me.

"Hello there sir, welcome to the Ponyville library. Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked politely, snapping me out of my trance, "There are books on anything that you may need from ancient texts, to modern fiction. By the way, is there anything wrong? You're looking a little pale."

When she said that I struggled to regain my composure. I hadn't even noticed until she mentioned it, "No, nothing is wrong, I'm just a little light-headed from flying over here so fast is all, sorry. I'm 'Mat', and you are?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, the librarian. I hope you'll excuse me I don't tend to see many ponies come in here, you are probably the first visitor I've had in months. It's like nopony understands the joys of reading these days." she said looking kind of down cast.

"Well this is just your luck because I really need books." she seemed to cheer up as I said that.

"Great is there any specific book that you need?"

"Well not really, I'm kind of behind in my studies, so I'm going to need a book on everything from say, the last thousand years." When I finished that sentence she had this absolutely overjoyed look on her face, probably because she had never met somepony who wanted to learn as much as she probably did.

She then rushed to the bookshelves and started looking for them all. I wanted to help but, she seemed too happy as she lifted books and cycled through them placing the ones I needed in a stack.

While I was watching this happen, she suddenly spoke up and asked, "I don't mean to pry, but what are you studying exactly? Because there are a lot of books for this time period."

I answered simply, "Everything. I'm a bit of a history nut." This was true but also a bit of a lie, I mean I always had a fascination about history, but I wasn't about to tell her the real reason,_ (Oh I'm just a 38 hundred year old immortal that is a little bit behind in times.) _Well... not yet at least, I just really didn't want her, or anypony for that matter, drawing any unneeded attention toward me.

When she had finished, we stared at the pile of about one or two hundred books. She awkwardly smiled at me, probably at how carried away she had gotten and offered to teleport them to my house, seeing as there was no way I was going to carry them all on my own. Of course I gave her the location and she performed the spell.

"Thank you very much Ms. Sparkle. I'll have your books back as soon as possible"

"No problem, you can come back any time you want. And please don't call me miss, everypony just calls me Twilight."

With that, I thanked her once again, and headed out. I took to the sky and decided to head back home for the day. This would give me the chance to drop off my already heavy load of supplies and get started on those books. Which, by the way, were all piled on the kitchen island _(nice aim.) _I picked a book off the top and sat down to read, _(Well I should head over to that bakery soon, I wonder what surprises will be in store.)_

* * *

A/N: Finally, am I right? Truth be told, I've been done with this chapter for quite a while now, but when everyone started expressing an interest in the story, I decided to put it through some stricter quality control. So just bare with me if I take too long. If something comes up and I can't write for a while, I'll let you all know, otherwise I'm just trying to make sure the story is as good as I know how to make it.

I'd also like to thank everyone for reviewing and like I said, taking an interest to my story. I hope that you will enjoy what is to come.


	3. Surprise? Party!

_'__Mat's P.O.V._

_(Interesting). _I set another book down upon the growing pile of books I had finished. As I read I continued to find more and more information on all that I had missed during the many years I had been away.

It seemed that the world had reached a point of general peace. I mean, there were a few attacks here and there and some political disputes between other nations, but other than that, there was not much really happening. Heck, even the royal guard were, as one author put it, _"just for show."_

Other than that there had been major advances in technology and medicine. They had figured out much while I was away, I almost couldn't wait to practice these new methods. Of course I was going to need to get a job first.

Anyway I started to reach for another book when something was tugging on the back of my mind, was there something that I was forgetting?

I looked outside to see that it was getting dark... _(I remember now!_ _I was supposed to meet that pink mare over at that bakery!)_ I got up and rushed out the door. _(I hope I'm not too late.)_

* * *

As I neared the bakery, I saw its sign sway in the night breeze and noticed that all the lights were turned off. Now, as late as it was, my first thought was that, _(Oh they probably closed. I'll just come back tomorrow, apologize, and everything will hopefully be okay.)_, but that thought soon vanished as I then heard some subtle shuffling followed by a giggle on the other side of the door.

I went up and was about to go inside, but decided to have a little fun with her instead.

I waited for a late comer. When they arrived, I got behind them and, as naturally as I could, entered in with them hoping nopony noticed me, which apparently nopony had, lucky for me. I then crawled around until I found that I was directly behind the pink mare I had met earlier.

When I thought I was close enough, I got ready to speak but she wasn't there anymore. I turned around and suddenly she was right in front of my face, "Surprise! Welcome to Ponyville Mat!" she screamed.

"Ghaaa...!" I exclaimed scared out of my wits. _"How did she get behind me I was watching her the whole time!"_ I tried to reason, but it seemed like it was to no avail, so I just pushed the thought aside... for now.

The mare bounced up to me with a large smile, "I throw these parties for every pony that's new in town so that you can get more comfortable and meet new friends. It also introduces other characters in the story to the audience. Will you be my friend? I won't take 'no' for an answer."

_("Audience?" what's that even supposed to mean.)_ I thought yet again pushing it aside, adding it to my growing list of questions about the mare.

The "friends" thing got to me, I really wasn't here to make any friends. I knew that it would never last, I'm immortal. I couldn't bare too lose any more friends. When I came here I was only looking for ponies to talk to, to keep me from insanity, not this.

Although I still considered it, mainly because she wouldn't stop staring at me. I came up with the justification that… well, she said she knew everypony so she probably wouldn't really pay as much mind toward me, so as long as I kept my distance, I could be her "friend" without really getting attached to anypony, so begrudgingly I made up my mind, "Sure, I... guess I'll be your friend."

Then she jumped up and hovered with excitement, squealing "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Then she came down excitedly, "Come with me. I'll introduce you to everypony." To which she put an arm around my neck and whisked me away into the crowd.

* * *

Eventually, I was reminded that the mares name was Pinkie and as we walked around the room, Pinkie introduced me to so many ponies it was hard to remember them all, but I did meet many really interesting ponies.

One was a tan colored stallion with an hourglass cutie mark who called himself, "The Doctor." I tried to ask him, "Doctor... who?" but he simply replied, "Just the Doctor." The weird thing was, I quickly got this suspicious feeling about him. Hmm… well whatever.

Then I met this one blonde, light gray pony named Derpy standing next to "The Doctor" who had bubbles for her mark, which you could only guess what it meant, as she didn't know herself. Overall, the thing that was the most memorable about her was her awesome looking eyes that were looking in two separate directions. _(I wish I could do that!) _I thought as Pinky dragged me away.

We eventually made it to a small group of ponies, some of which I had met earlier that day, "And these are my best friends Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and Spike. Everypony this is Mat." Pinky introduced

"Hello again to some of you, but I don't believe I have met you two yet." I said with a smile gesturing towards the ones Pinkie called Applejack and Fluttershy. One, an orange earth pony mare who wore a cowpony hat and had a blond mane and tail that was held together in… well ... a ponytail… and had a mark of three red apples. The other a yellow Pegasus mare with a long pink mane that she was using to hide behind shyly, she had a mark of three butterflies.

"Howdy there Mat, nice to meet ya,'" Applejack greeted with a nice country accent and a violent shake of my hoof, "Pinky hasn't told us much about ya yet so I was hoping that ya could tell us more about yer self. First off, where are y'all from?"

"Well that's a great question, I used to live deep within the Everfree forest... but moved because not many ponies live out there and I was starting to get a bit lonely." I told them. I believing it to be an average thing.

Apparently it wasn't, for the reason that, as soon as I finished, they all stared at me in shock with their mouths open, "Oh the place isn't that bad. What's wrong?" I questioned.

Then Twilight looked at me with a worried disgruntled look, "Sorry, but_ that_ forest is the most dangerous place that we know of in Ponyville, maybe even in Equestria, there are many dangerous monsters and plants within, and it's just generally unsafe. Why would you even want to live there in the first place?"

I smirked at this, "Well I guess it is quite dangerous and it is very hard to survive in there, which made it perfect for me."

"How would that environment possibly be perfect for you?" Twilight questioned with curiosity.

"As you can see by my cutie mark, I'm a medic and I used to do my work for the royal guard which I was a part of, but even a medic has to know how to fight and I found that I was really good in stealth. I even used to get sent on missions. But I wanted to be better, so I went to the forest where, with all the dangerous creatures around, I was forced to learn to get better, and that was something a peaceful society such as this couldn't do."

"Even if you were a member of the royal guard, how long were you possibly able to stand that dreadful place?" Rarity asked.

"Well actually, I've lived there almost a third of my life, only until just yesterday when I overheard a small filly and zebra walking nearby talking about this place in passing. I thought that I was the only pony for miles before then."

"I think you mean my little sister and Zecora." Applejack brought up.

"That little filly was your sister, what a strange coincidence. Anyway, enough about me, I would like to know a little bit more about you two." I said looking at the two mares, "First, what is it that you do, Applejack?"

"I'm co-owner of Sweet Apple Acres just east of here."

"Really? Cool, I've been meaning to get some apples from there." I commented, "And what is it that you do?" I asked Fluttershy, who had her head down and was trying to hide behind her mane.

"I...I t-take c-c-care... of t-the ani-animals near th-the f-forest." she said almost inaudible at the end, but I still heard her.

"Well that's great, I love animals!" I said eccentrically, trying to break her out of her shell, which seemed to work because she lifted her head a little. She didn't seem completely sure, but at least I had left a better impression.

* * *

For the rest of the night we all partied. Eventually everypony started to leave, as it was getting pretty late _(around ten)_, but as I was heading out I remembered some questions I wanted to ask Twilight from the books I read, so I quickly trotted up to her.

"Hey Twilight," I called, "before you go I was wondering if you could help me answer a few questions I have about those books."

"Sure we can talk on the way to the library." she answered joyously. As I began with a few theories I had.

_~ ½ an hour later ~_

"That's impossible, how could anypony have missed that?"

"I'm just theorizing, but how else could those events have transpired on their own. To me it makes perfect sense." I explained.

"Yes I can see that..." Twilight tried to reason, "But it just seems too simple for that to have been the reason."

"Well sometimes it really is the simple answer that always tends to be overlooked."

"Okay sure... but it's still conspiracy until I figure it out for myself." with that we had finally reached her house and she went and opened the door, "Well it's been fun discussing things with you, but it's getting pretty late maybe we can talk more about these theories sometime later.

"Sure thing. Anyway, I'll see you later. Good night Twilight!" I called out as I lifted off from the ground and flew back towards home.

* * *

_Twilight's P.O.V._

As he took off, I waved in farewell and closed my door.

"Spike, this guy seems really suspicious," I started to lecture, gaining a more concerned look, as Spike hopped off my back, "did you notice that he was being really vague about the things we asked about him? I think he may be hiding something, but what? We know that he said he lived in the Everfree Forest for a long time, is studying everything from the last thousand years, and that supposedly he was once a royal guard. He sounds so familiar to something I read, but what? If the princess wasn't so busy I would ask her but she said she wouldn't be available or at least another two weeks."

"Why are you so interested in him anyway...? Do you like him or something?" Spike stated mockingly then broke into a small chuckle.

"No, of course not! It just seems like he's hiding something and I have to know what."

"Whatever you say Twi," he said with a suspicious smile, "I'm going to bed. Good night."

"Good night, Spike, I'm going to write a letter to Shining and see if he's heard of him," I called back while levitating a quill and scroll over to my desk._ (Who is this guy?)_

* * *

A/N: Sorry for these late updates. Sometimes I get really in the mood to write and other times... not so much, but I'll try to at least make this a weekly thing if not sooner.

Anyway, after this chapter, the story is finally going to really get set into motion. So see you then and Remember to Review.


	4. Shatter

_Hematite's P.O.V._

"Gahhhhhh!" I awoke gasping for breath. I just had a terrible nightmare.

However, try as I might to think back about what had caused me so much fear, I couldn't. Everything that I saw or heard in my head was a complete blank.

These types of dreams were very uncommon for me. This… was ominous.

Now, I don't tend to believe on things like luck or fate in the ways that other ponies do, but the first time I had a type of dream like this I was cursed with in the week and the last time Luna turned and tried to destroy her sister, so…yeah.

Now my guard was up, this was definitely something I would have to look into, but not right now.

I knew I would probably regret it, but I liked to take things as they come.

So what was I going to do today? I think I'll go to the park. I haven't really got to explore the more recreational parts of town since getting here a few days ago and it would be nice to get out and do something a little more active.

Making this decision, I went to my closet and got out my soccer ball and ran out balancing/holding the ball on my back.

* * *

Just as I was about to make it to the park area, I found myself on a road near a large section of land where, in the distance, I heard that familiar crash that I was all too well acquainted with.

Over on the ground, near the side of the road, was that Rainbow mare back in her dirt pile, face up this time. It didn't last long however, as she shot back up, obviously still full of energy to do whatever she was up to. I then noticed something a bit further away, it seemed that a small crowd had gathered. The many recognizable colors I saw soon tipped me off to believing that it must be her friends. Feeling friendly, I trotted over.

"Cello! What's happen'?" I called a few feet away still making my way over.

Twilight turned and spoke up first, "Oh hi Mat. We were just watching Rainbow practice. She's trying to teach herself to do her signature sonic Rainboom in a smaller amount of time and space."

**THUD**. Rainbow crashed again this time into the tree we were sitting under. She got up and after seeing me, focused her attention towards me. "Hey Mat, as I seem to remember you agreeing the other day that we would fly."

"You want to do that now? Well okay, I did say I would. let's get going." I said, I wasn't expecting to do this today, but I did wish for an athletic activity. So, I put my ball and saddle bag down, got up and unfolded my wings to fly. I was about to take off, but stopped when I heard a gasp.

"Ooooooh! Darling, what happened to your wings? They're so sharp and strait." Rarity gawked out as she stared at my wings. And she wasn't alone, they were all looking at my wings with awe-filled faces.

"Well… sure, they've always been that way." I looked back at my wings. The thing was they never curved and were abnormally flat, an added feature to my crystal pony blood.

"But How? Naturally wings are rounded." Twilight chimed in.

"I guess I just exceed the laws of nature." I snickered, trying to poke some fun with my answer, but all joking aside, "You don't have to like them, my village, growing up, sure didn't, although that's probably just because they were wings… regardless my wings are mine and they're awesome!"

"Wait, what do you mean that you're village didn't like your wings?" Rainbow asked sounding slightly angry, most likely wondering why a town would dislike wings so much.

"Wow, you girls sure like to pry, but I guess I brought it up, so all I'll say is my village had always been strictly earth-type ponies and when I was born amongst them, they weren't all too thrilled."

"But that doesn't make sense, in order for you to even be a Pegasus, wouldn't at least one of your parents have to be a Pegasus as well?" Twilight asked confused.

"No, not really, it's li-" I started, but Pinkie excitedly cut in.

"It's just like Pound and Carrot Cake! They're a Unicorn and a Pegasus but Mr. and Mrs. Cake aren't either!"

"Exactly, my ancestors on my mother's side were Pegasi, so I inherited their Pegasus trait… Never knew any of them though." I ended, looking up in thought. It was short lived however, as I turned back not wanting to reveal anymore, "Well anyway, let's get up there."

They looked like they were going to press for more information, but I shot up before they could say anything more. Rainbow soon joined me and started to explain what she wanted me to do.

* * *

For about an hour we flew through the sky and practiced and preformed simple to awesome tricks. We usually failed, the way that Rainbow taught them, but eventually succeeded in them, giving a great show to Rainbow's friends below. She tried to teach me a lot of her more amazing tricks, but I found that a lot of them were surprisingly difficult and no matter how hard I tried, there was no way I was going to learn how to do them today or for a long time (that was only if I practiced of course, but I probably wouldn't because I don't really care much for tricks.).

After a long time practicing, Rainbow and I were gliding away from a trick we just finished and as we did so I started to pass Rainbow. After seeing this, she decided to fly faster to regain her position in front of me. Now I not very competitive, but I couldn't let anypony so blatantly show me up like that, so of course I decide to go faster than her.

Faster and faster we went until it was a race. 'Though we had no clear finish line in mind, our only goal was to outdo the other in speed.

"Why don't you just give up now Mat?! I'm the fastest pony in Equestria there is no way that you can beat me!" Rainbow yelled over the winds rushing against our ears. At this I sped another little bit ahead.

"Really now?! Well you seem to be bit slower than I, you must not be trying your hardest! How fast can you really go?!"

"Fine I'll show you just how fast I can go, then you'll see! Just try to outdo this!" Then Rainbow sped so fast that a cone started to form around her and just as it seemed the cone could get no smaller, she rocketed forward breaking the light barrier in a rainbow of color leaving a rainbow wherever see went.

_(Interesting.)_ I thought to myself, _(Well, she said to keep up.)_ So I sped up.

* * *

_Twilight's P.O.V._

We all gazed up at the tricks that Rainbow was trying to teach Mat. He had trouble on a few of the moves, but the way Rainbow teaches, I don't blame him. All she really did was preform the move and made him copy.

While watching, I thought back to the conversation that we had just moments ago. I had never heard of a town in Equestria that was so discriminatory, well at least none in this time period. The only one I can think of is when all three races were split up, like in the Hearth's Warming Eve stories. But I guess I could be wrong.

And then there were those sharp wings. I've never seen anything like it, not in any of my books, scrolls, or tapestries. They had to be natural at the very least because if they were clipped he wouldn't be flying right now. I had to examine them more closely. I'll see if he'll let me when he comes back down.

I refocused in on what was happening and it appeared that Rainbow and Mat had gotten themselves into a little race. Mat was ahead then Rainbow sped up and vice versa until they were flying and ridiculously fast speeds.

Then it appeared that Rainbow, wanting to end this quickly, shot forward in a rainbow of color with her sonic Rainboom. Mat should be far behind her now, but when I looked for him he seemed to be missing until Pinkie shouted.

"Wooo double Rainboom!"

I looked back to where Rainbow was and there was Mat, right next to her, doing a Rainboom as well. _(Nopony other than Rainbow had ever been able to pull it off!)_ I guess, at least that we know. Rainbow did say that there were old pony tales on the subject.

That thought would have to be put on hold as I was snapped out of the shock to experience a greater shock as Mat started to catch up to Rainbow. The air in front of him started to fluctuate and light began to spark as another wind barrier began to form at the front, which astonishingly started to transform into another cone around Hematite's body. Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any more unbelievable, he shot forward and disappeared.

By this time Rainbow had stopped dead in the air. We all looked around, unable to see Hematite anywhere. Right in front of all of our eyes, Mat exceeded what we had thought to be the fastest anypony could go and shattered it. Could it be… because of his wings.

Then out of nowhere he reappeared and came to a complete halt.

We all seemed to stare endlessly as Hematite flew back down to us.

"Sorry about that." He said looking away with a smile on his face, "Sometimes I get a little carried away… Well, see you all later!" He said as he landed, snatched-up his things and took off before any of us could speak up.

There were just two things that I could think of with all that had just happened, with all the evidence that he has provided. _(What else could this "Mat" be hiding?)_

And, with the intent of figuring this out, _(What am I getting myself into?)_

* * *

_~later that night~_

I opened my door, exhausted by today's activities. Usually I would do some research, especially after what I learned about Mat, but I was so tired even that would have to wait. As I headed up to bed, Spike suddenly coughed up a scroll from Shining.

It was a response from Shinning about that research I asked him to do on Mat. Unrolling the scroll with my magic, the letter read this,

_Dear Twily,_

_I tried to search for the guy you asked about in the archives, but nothing came up. Optimistically, I even expanded my search to all guards since the beginning, but still nothing. However, I have yet finish as there is one file that was almost completely redacted, aside from a strange symbol where the rank would be. I'll try to get deciphered as much as I can, but it will take a while. Although I wouldn't get your hopes up, the chances that this file is his are very slim. He is either extremely high in rank or a liar. Sorry Twilight._

_Love,_

_Shining Armor_

* * *

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Before I get any deeper into the conflict of this story I wanted to explain this ability of Hematite's and dive just a little deeper into his past. Remember to R&R


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